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Bumping this up because I had a chance to see Beau Burrows in person last night in Richmond, pitching in front of a sellout crowd of almost 10k. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, left leading 2-0 with two outs in the sixth after surrendering a hit and was charged with 1 run. My thoughts:

• He's a big, sturdy kid for sure. I liked his composure throughout and his demeanor.

• His fastball was between 93-96 all night, mostly in the 95-96 range. He got a lot of swings and misses. In the first few innings, he was relying almost exclusively on it and the Squirrels couldn't turn on it.

• His curve was nice but clocked between 73-75 most times. I would think that 20-mph gap from FB to curve would be too great once he faces better hitters. (Or he will need to develop another pitch to offset this. I didn't really notice much beside those two pitches last night.)

• He left his FB up more as the game went on and walked 4 or 5 as a result of that. Seemed to want to challenge everyone with it and maybe was trying to overthrow it a bit.

• I'm guessing that was the biggest crowd he'd pitched in front of to date (could be wrong), so to see him carry a no-hitter that deep and certainly on a pitch count I thought was impressive.

3

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Very nice scouting report. Hopefully, other teams weren't watching. I would hate for the Tigers to get an offer of a washed up middle inning RP and try to win this season. At some point, we need to hang onto be any young talent that comes our way.

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Bumping this up because I had a chance to see Beau Burrows in person last night in Richmond, pitching in front of a sellout crowd of almost 10k. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, left leading 2-0 with two outs in the sixth after surrendering a hit and was charged with 1 run. My thoughts:

• He's a big, sturdy kid for sure. I liked his composure throughout and his demeanor.

• His fastball was between 93-96 all night, mostly in the 95-96 range. He got a lot of swings and misses. In the first few innings, he was relying almost exclusively on it and the Squirrels couldn't turn on it.

• His curve was nice but clocked between 73-75 most times. I would think that 20-mph gap from FB to curve would be too great once he faces better hitters. (Or he will need to develop another pitch to offset this. I didn't really notice much beside those two pitches last night.)

• He left his FB up more as the game went on and walked 4 or 5 as a result of that. Seemed to want to challenge everyone with it and maybe was trying to overthrow it a bit.

• I'm guessing that was the biggest crowd he'd pitched in front of to date (could be wrong), so to see him carry a no-hitter that deep and certainly on a pitch count I thought was impressive.

Sounds good.

The conventional wisdom is that the FB drifting up late in the game compared to earlier is typically fatigue so that might be expected.

For sure the curve at 73 is getting down to where a hitter has time to double clutch and still hit the ball - definitely near/at/maybe past the limit there. The biggest speed delta we have seen in recent years would be JV in his early years. His curve was often down to 78 as against a FB at 97 but of course he did have intermediate speed pitches as well.

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not quite ten years ago the Braves moved their AAA affiliate out of Richmond because, as I recall, the city wasn't meeting their expectations for plans regarding a new park commitment. VaBengal may know the specifics better than I am recalling. So the Braves relocated to Gwinnett, almost next door to the major league club.

To the point, the G-Braves are last in International League attendance and have been trending this way for several years. The park the Braves abandoned in Richmond has been home to the Giants for several years now and the team is consistently in the top two on attendance in the AA Eastern League, currently second. Always thought this to be interesting.

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Bumping this again because Erie is back in my neck of the woods this weekend, so I got to see Burrows pitch again last night and caught Dawel Lugo for the first time. Some thoughts:

• Burrows seemed to demonstrate a more complete arsenal last night than when I saw him three weeks ago. He was mixing his curve/slider (not sure which he really throws - it looked like a short, tight slider that acted like a curve) in the 75-78 mph range, his fastball was a little slower that last time (in the 93-94 range on most occasions) and he was throwing another pitch regularly in the mid-80s. Couldn't tell if it was a two-seamer or a change-up. Last time my only concern was that the difference in velo from his FB (97-98) to his curve/slider (73-74) was too significant. Much better last night.

• He pitched with great purpose and confidence. He was aggressive in the zone, had a plan and sequence in mind and executed it well. He finished with 10 Ks in 5 innings, 2 earned runs allowed (both in one inning).

• In general, he was again overpowering and the Richmond hitters were largely overmatched and confused outside of the one inning they got to him.

• His control was better than the first time I saw him, probably the result of taking just a bit off his FB to bring it down. Didn't see many pitches sail high on him at all.

Overall, he seems to really be progressing as a pitcher as opposed to a thrower. Anxious to see him continue to develop.

As for Lugo, I liked what I saw. He made a very nice defensive play at third and showed a very strong arm on his throws.

His batting stance is VERY loopy and seemingly has a lot of holes but he manages to get the bat on the ball somehow. He has a really wide stance, hands are very low and moving prior to the pitch. It appears that he doesn't really utilize his legs at all – his swing seems to be mostly arms – but he generates some pop anyway. My amateur opinion is that if someone can tighten things up a bit with his stance and swing, so that he's actually getting his hips into his swing, it could really unleash him. But what do I know.

Also very impressed with Greiner last night, who I hadn't seen in person before. He is a rock.